AIR-2 Genie Unguided Air-to-Air Nuclear missile
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Nytrunner
Pop lugs, not drugs
Got to work on an aircraft in the alert "barn" that was loaded "hot" with one.
Somewhat of an eerie feeling....
Somewhat of an eerie feeling....
So you're in a F106 screaming towards a formation of Bears at M2.5 in full AB to engage.
12 seconds from launch to detonation and point to target engagement...
Down and out is your only real egress option with acceptable G loading, then again you are already beyond Bingo fuel.
12 seconds from launch to detonation and point to target engagement...
Down and out is your only real egress option with acceptable G loading, then again you are already beyond Bingo fuel.
Some of the pilots had confided to us maintenance troops that if all the fire control systems failed, they planned on ramming the threat... something about if they couldn't stop them, there would be nothing worth coming home to.
Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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I was amazed by the fact that they were still operational until 1988, an unguided air-to-air nuke that was detonated with a timer? I can't find anything that says how it was detonated other than mention of a safing (to delay detonation until at safe distance away from launching aircraft) and detonation timer.
The following GREAT PDF that also discusses Genie's warhead safety issues says, "...thought was given to equipping it with a radar proximity fuze to improve its reliability in an ECM environment", but how could ECM have interfered with an internal timer? It couldn't. That's why I think it must not have been detonated by timer as the only fuzing option.
NUCLEAR ARMAMENT ITS ACQUISITION, CONTROL AND APPLICATION TO MANNED INTERCEPTORS 1951-1963
https://www.northcom.mil/Portals/28...Partial Release.pdf?ver=2017-03-16-115741-520
MMB-l.
Almost from the day the MB-l came off the drawing board, thought was given to equipping it with a radar proximity fuze to improve its reliability in an ECM environment. Originally proposed by ADC in 1955, the plan for an MB-l proximity fuze dragged on several years before finally being approved. Not till October 1961 was a contract awarded to the Douglas Aircraft Company to develop a nose cone containing both a timer and a proximity fuze, with a view to perfecting the MMB-l "Super Genie," as it was called, for operational use by 1963. Air Force Systems Command foresaw an increased kill probability for the MMB-l since aircrews, prior to triggering [launching - W] their "Super Genies," would select the fuze best suited to their targets. The first MMB-l prototype was readied for testing in February 1963; but a hitch occured in the plans. Mounting costs for MMB-l development, together with Defense Department cuts in USAF development funds, had placed the project squarely in competition with higher-priority projects for additional USAF funds. The upshot was that the MMB-l's downfall as a going project was precipitated. Notwithstanding ADC's strongest protests, further MMB-l development was officially cancelled on 5 March 1963.
EDIT: I think the ECM issue was due to possible jamming/spoofing of the ranging radar of the launching aircraft, not of anything on the Genie. So, it was just a timer:
https://www.airvectors.net/avsdaam.html#m3
The Genies had a detonation timer that started after engine burn-out; lethal radius was about 300 meters (1,000 feet). It was intended for "collision-course" intercepts, the interceptor crossing the path of the target, instead of chasing it from the tail; the interceptor's fire-control system computer [calculated] the optimum trajectory to the target with the nuclear warhead eliminating the need for a guidance system.
The following GREAT PDF that also discusses Genie's warhead safety issues says, "...thought was given to equipping it with a radar proximity fuze to improve its reliability in an ECM environment", but how could ECM have interfered with an internal timer? It couldn't. That's why I think it must not have been detonated by timer as the only fuzing option.
NUCLEAR ARMAMENT ITS ACQUISITION, CONTROL AND APPLICATION TO MANNED INTERCEPTORS 1951-1963
https://www.northcom.mil/Portals/28...Partial Release.pdf?ver=2017-03-16-115741-520
MMB-l.
Almost from the day the MB-l came off the drawing board, thought was given to equipping it with a radar proximity fuze to improve its reliability in an ECM environment. Originally proposed by ADC in 1955, the plan for an MB-l proximity fuze dragged on several years before finally being approved. Not till October 1961 was a contract awarded to the Douglas Aircraft Company to develop a nose cone containing both a timer and a proximity fuze, with a view to perfecting the MMB-l "Super Genie," as it was called, for operational use by 1963. Air Force Systems Command foresaw an increased kill probability for the MMB-l since aircrews, prior to triggering [launching - W] their "Super Genies," would select the fuze best suited to their targets. The first MMB-l prototype was readied for testing in February 1963; but a hitch occured in the plans. Mounting costs for MMB-l development, together with Defense Department cuts in USAF development funds, had placed the project squarely in competition with higher-priority projects for additional USAF funds. The upshot was that the MMB-l's downfall as a going project was precipitated. Notwithstanding ADC's strongest protests, further MMB-l development was officially cancelled on 5 March 1963.
EDIT: I think the ECM issue was due to possible jamming/spoofing of the ranging radar of the launching aircraft, not of anything on the Genie. So, it was just a timer:
https://www.airvectors.net/avsdaam.html#m3
The Genies had a detonation timer that started after engine burn-out; lethal radius was about 300 meters (1,000 feet). It was intended for "collision-course" intercepts, the interceptor crossing the path of the target, instead of chasing it from the tail; the interceptor's fire-control system computer [calculated] the optimum trajectory to the target with the nuclear warhead eliminating the need for a guidance system.
Last edited:
Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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Ah, so without PAL your own personal nuke, unfortunately "just" 1.5 kt.
Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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20kt. Now we're talkin'!
Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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The last F-106 was retired in 1988(!) which now explains the Genie's surprisingly late retirement date of 1988:
119th Fighter Squadron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/119th_Fighter_Squadron
In 1973, the unit transitioned into the F-106 "Delta Dart" and assumed alert status the following year. The Aerospace Defense Command then came under TAC as the Air Defense Tactical Air Command (ADTAC), and then again changed to a numbered Air Force, 1st Air Force. During 1988, the unit transitioned into the F-16A/B, "Fighting Falcon", and received an "excellent" rating during its first Operational Readiness Inspection with the F-16 in October 1989.
The Ultimate Supersonic Interceptor - F-106 Delta Dart
Hughes MA-1 "Digitair"
https://www.456fis.org/Radar_&_Avionics.htm
The MA-1, a high-capacity digital computer, was designed to be digitally datalinked to the SAGE and was composed of 200 black electronic metal black boxes packed with thousands of tiny electronic parts and almost thirteen kilometers (eight miles) of wiring. All together it weighed 1145 kg (2520 lbs). The electronics were wrapped completely around the pilot except over him. It included automatic datalink reception and automatic flight control for navigation. Continuous position determination through the TACAN (tactical air navigation) station and automatic navigation to any of several reselected waypoints were possible.
After takeoff, the system could fly the F-106 to the target, launch the missiles, monitor the return trip to base, and return controls to the pilot just before landing.
The pilot could follow his progress on a round 20-cm (eight inch) tactical situation display that showed film strips of approaching air navigation maps. Each strip showed all major ground references up to about a 650-km (350-nm/400-mi) radius of the operations base. The strips could be changed when the F-106s operated from different bases. A small black delta wing symbol with a needle nose (the "bug") was superimposed on the map to indicate the position of the aircraft. The current range of the aircraft was represented by a circle on the map centered on the "bug." Under SAGE, the target was represented by an "X" bisected with an arrow.
The navigation system could turn the aircraft on to an attack course, and markers on the radar scope approximated the range, azimuth, and elevation of the target. Once the target was obtained, the pilot could compelete the interception without SAGE.
The firing order of the aircraft's armament was selected by the pilot. A circle on the radar scope marked where the target was estimated to be, and when it came within radar range, a blip appeared marking its position.
![MA-1[1].jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/0ed/0ed86e8c1ca305be08f88499edb17812.jpg)
Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) System
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Automatic_Ground_Environment
The 4-story SAGE blockhouses at 22 locations each had 3.5 acres of floor space "hardened [for] overpressures of" 5 psi (34 kPa).
119th Fighter Squadron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/119th_Fighter_Squadron
In 1973, the unit transitioned into the F-106 "Delta Dart" and assumed alert status the following year. The Aerospace Defense Command then came under TAC as the Air Defense Tactical Air Command (ADTAC), and then again changed to a numbered Air Force, 1st Air Force. During 1988, the unit transitioned into the F-16A/B, "Fighting Falcon", and received an "excellent" rating during its first Operational Readiness Inspection with the F-16 in October 1989.
The Ultimate Supersonic Interceptor - F-106 Delta Dart
Hughes MA-1 "Digitair"
https://www.456fis.org/Radar_&_Avionics.htm
The MA-1, a high-capacity digital computer, was designed to be digitally datalinked to the SAGE and was composed of 200 black electronic metal black boxes packed with thousands of tiny electronic parts and almost thirteen kilometers (eight miles) of wiring. All together it weighed 1145 kg (2520 lbs). The electronics were wrapped completely around the pilot except over him. It included automatic datalink reception and automatic flight control for navigation. Continuous position determination through the TACAN (tactical air navigation) station and automatic navigation to any of several reselected waypoints were possible.
After takeoff, the system could fly the F-106 to the target, launch the missiles, monitor the return trip to base, and return controls to the pilot just before landing.
The pilot could follow his progress on a round 20-cm (eight inch) tactical situation display that showed film strips of approaching air navigation maps. Each strip showed all major ground references up to about a 650-km (350-nm/400-mi) radius of the operations base. The strips could be changed when the F-106s operated from different bases. A small black delta wing symbol with a needle nose (the "bug") was superimposed on the map to indicate the position of the aircraft. The current range of the aircraft was represented by a circle on the map centered on the "bug." Under SAGE, the target was represented by an "X" bisected with an arrow.
The navigation system could turn the aircraft on to an attack course, and markers on the radar scope approximated the range, azimuth, and elevation of the target. Once the target was obtained, the pilot could compelete the interception without SAGE.
The firing order of the aircraft's armament was selected by the pilot. A circle on the radar scope marked where the target was estimated to be, and when it came within radar range, a blip appeared marking its position.
Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) System
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Automatic_Ground_Environment
The 4-story SAGE blockhouses at 22 locations each had 3.5 acres of floor space "hardened [for] overpressures of" 5 psi (34 kPa).
